


best friends, forever

by lulla_lunekjaer, smolqueernerds



Category: The Ever Afters Series - Shelby Bach
Genre: Adelaide Radcliffe Deserves Better, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Siblings, Gen, I don't know what to tag this, THIS GIVES ME ALL THE FEELS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 09:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6278776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulla_lunekjaer/pseuds/lulla_lunekjaer, https://archiveofourown.org/users/smolqueernerds/pseuds/smolqueernerds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She doesn’t like the name Charlotte. That’s okay. He doesn’t either.</p><p> </p><p>AU where Chase and Adelaide are adopted siblings and I have all the feels</p>
            </blockquote>





	best friends, forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smolqueernerds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smolqueernerds/gifts).



> So this takes place in @smolqueernerds' nonmagical AU in which Chase lives with Ayalla, a local politician/civil servant, and Adelaide lives down the street with her neglectful/emotionally abusive parents and after one particular incident she gets taken in by child protective services and Ayalla (who is bi af btw) adopts her and they're the best and cutest siblings ever and take care of each other and I love this AU so much and a bunch of other stuff happens and Ayalla and Ellie are dating and Kelly is nb and Chase is trans and Chase and Adelaide both have crushes on Rory, who ends up with Chase but it's okay and Adelaide realizes they never would have worked anyway and basically everyone loves each other very much and cares about each other and it hurts me and I LOVE IT AND ALSO RAIN FOR CREATING IT. 
> 
> Anyway.

She doesn’t like the name Charlotte. That’s okay. He doesn’t either.

Her name is Adelaide, and his is Chase. She lives down the street from him and his mom. She doesn’t like her parents.

“That’s okay,” he tells her, “When we’re older we’ll go live in a castle and tell everyone we’re siblings and hold court in the throne room.”

She giggles, and he holds up a stick like a sword to the sky.

“I’ll be Prince Chase, the greatest warrior in all the realm, and you can be Princess Adelaide and we’ll slay all the dragons and everyone will adore us.” He picks up a leaf and puts it on her head, and they dash off together.

 

He sees her, after. She looks nothing like his princess, that day on the playground. Hers is the single occupied chair in the waiting room, until he sits next to her.

He tries to lean into her, but she flinches away from him.

“Adelaide?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay.”

He moves to take her hand, and when she nods, he does. His fingers brush against the bandage wrapped around her arm. She would stiffen further, but she can’t.

She leans her head on his shoulder.

This is okay. It’ll be okay. I love you.

Yeah, it’ll be okay.

 

He’s chasing her around the house, and she’s laughing, and he’s angry at her but look, she’s happy. The scar her parents left with a plate on the inside of her left arm never quite heals, but it’s okay. He loves her, and that’s enough.

She runs out the backdoor and climbs up into their treehouse. Kicking the ladder down, she sits with her legs dangling over the edge.

“Okay, time to see who you’ve been texting so much lately!” She triumphantly swipes his phone open and scrolls through his messages to the top.

“Oooh, Rory? Who’s Rory?”

“She’s just a friend, come on, Adelaide, give it back!” He jumps at her and falls short. She kicks her feet and laughs.

“You’re going out for ice cream?”

“It’s not a date.” He grits his teeth and pulls a chair underneath the tree, reaching for the first branch.

She laughs. “Your word, not mine.”

He reaches her and grabs his phone back. She lets him. She’s seen all she wanted to see.

“I like ice cream.”

“Adelaide, please, you’ve stolen enough of my girlfriends already. Let me have just one. One.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

She grins, and his entire world is contained in her smile.

 

He loves Rory, he really does, but she could never light up his life like Adelaide does. They were each other’s entire world for so long. She knows she could never be that for him, not like she is, and she doesn’t care. She loves him fiercely, the only way she knows how to.

When one of his coworkers turns up dead, the first thing she does is barricade the doors against the paparazzi. They never quite give up on the daughter of Maggie Wright and Eric Landon, you know, the one that went and became a journalist or something and worked in the Middle East with that other girl with the prosthetics? The second thing she does is book a plane ticket.

Adelaide arrives at three in the morning, red-eyed and overly caffeinated, and she goes upstairs and sits with him for hours.

Rory finds them the next morning, lying on top of each other, limbs tangled awkwardly in the sheets. She lays another blanket on top of them and goes to wake up Cal.

 

A long time ago, two children were so, so alone.

He reached out his hand.

“Hi, I’m Chase.”

“Hi.”

“Do you want to play with me?”

" . . . okay."  


**Author's Note:**

> RORY IS THE MOM IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP HONESTLY
> 
> LIKE IMAGINE HER STANDING THERE IN A WHITE BATHROBE WITH A MUG OF COFFEE AND COVERING UP HER (husband and sister-in-law) TWO ACTUAL CHILDREN WHO DONT TALK ABOUT THEIR EMOTIONS AND COVERING THEM UP AND GOING TO WAKE HER SMALL SON FOR SCHOOL 
> 
> THIS AU GIVES ME SO MANY FEELINGS YOU GUYS


End file.
